Resplendence
by EverythingIsMagic
Summary: However, no matter how much rouge lay upon her lips, and no matter how many beads of jade she wore around her neck, she could never hope to match up. Tsubakicentric TsubakixKikyou


**Note:** Wow, talk about something different for me. Those who read my normal fics, never fret. I will not be writing non-Kagome/InuYasha fic very often. But every author needs to attempt venturing outside their comfort zone every once in a while, right? This was done for iyfic(underscore)contest on livejournal. (It placed second!) The theme was villain, and I decided to attempt a twist with one of my favorites- the dark Miko Tsubaki. This is mild shoujo-ai. That's girl/girl love. (Albeit one sided in this case.) If that's not to your taste you can turn back now. Thanks and enjoy!

**Resplendence**

A One-Shot By Kelly O'Connor

* * *

She'd never forget the sensation of the Miko powers searing into her eye. For how could she when its mark was permanently branded upon her face? 

It was a mark denoting superiority, that one woman held a power far greater than her own.

_Kikyou…_ Tsubaki reached up and stroked her slim fingers across the interlaid hatch of lines that ran across her eye.

Tsubaki had been smug from the very moment she discovered she possessed the powers of a Great Miko. Her ambitions were high, and as childhood grew to adolescence, adolescence to young adulthood, that changed not in the least.

The sweet scent of sakura filled the air the initial moment Tsubaki met up with the stern but kind woman who would turn her life around.

Two Miko, one teacher. They fought side by side and became a formidable team. Mastering the powers of the Shikigami, the black haired beauty soon found herself possessed with another desire…

_Kikyou…_

Tsubaki was elegant, no doubt. Her made up face accentuating her waves of raven hair in a startling manner.

However, no matter how much rouge lay upon her lips, and no matter how many beads of jade she wore around her neck, she could never hope to match up.

Her beauty was quiet, but commanding. Unique and as mesmerizing as the petals of sakura they met beneath.

Her lips were colorless, their natural pink being the only shade they ever wore. Her clothing was unadorned, the clothing the same as hundreds of Miko across the islands.

Kikyou was a simple woman, but she was undeniably a complicated weave of a cavalcade of traits.

Tsubaki wanted this. Her smug nature fell around the woman. She found herself seeking out her presence even when the two of them were not on duty.

But Kikyou never let her guard down around the other Miko, because her jaded heart never allowed anyone's trust to intrude.

Was she dense? Or did she just ignore the obvious physical admiration she had for her?

Tsubaki would never know, but upon realizing that Kikyou's eyes did not ever capture her own…

_She strived to be beautiful._

As beautiful as the Miko she both envied and adored. _Forever beautiful._

And she would do anything to achieve that.

Kikyou's neck had always been plain, but that changed one day. A jewel of immense power was placed upon her breast. Trust being placed on her shoulders although she could not trust herself.

The glimmer of the jewel did little to enhance her already porcelain beauty, but Tsubaki realized that Kikyou would never recognize her presence now.

Her life was the jewel, and she could have nothing else to burden herself with.

But the Shikon no Tama held unfathomable potential. The potential the give its wielder whatever they so wished.

**Ambition. Desire. Beauty.**

By gaining the orb she could gain everything. Perhaps, including the very woman who guarded it.

The sweet scent of sakura filled the air, as it did upon their first meeting. The power of Tsubaki's Shikigami was thwarted by the untouchable Kikyou's bow. Grasping her wounded eye, Tsubaki cursed and left in defeat.

It seemed now, she would never succeed.

* * *

Tsubaki felt a grin cross her smug features as the poison covered the jewel she'd coveted so long. Fifty years it had taken, but now her desires could be fulfilled. 

Well… most of them.

She only mildly registered the words of Naraku, too caught up in her own convictions.

However, her eyes widened when the man she'd been speaking to fell to the ground in a heap of power. It had only been a Kugutsu.

_Kikyou…_ Turning around, Tsubaki's features were etched with shock and surprise.

Somehow, she was just as beautiful as she'd remembered.

* * *

End


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